The Importance Of Leadership In Health Care

Being a student from Saint Leo University and being able to take the Healthcare Management class has helped opened my eyes to the Healthcare Profession. I am currently a Financial Counselor at a Skilled Nursing Facility, which is a fancy name for Business Office Manager and Human Resources. I have been in this position for 9 months and was very hard for me to adjust at first. I have used my everyday skills to understand my class discussions and I also used my class discussions to help me whenever I was in a bind at work. Working in the Healthcare profession can be a lot of work and draining if you do not used the correct leadership tactics, motivation, or organizational skills.
The top three organizations setting of a future health care
management position I choose are: Insurance/Managed Care Companies, Health Information Systems, and Hospice Care. The reason why I choose Insurance/Managed Care Companies as my first choice of health profession is because I enjoyed talking to patients and their families about health coverage. I also like to make sure the patient and families are aware of their insurance policies and how to read in between the lines financially. I chose Health Information systems as my second choice of profession because I am very proficient in the administration portion of this profession which takes a lot of computer and law knowledge. The last profession I choose is Hospice Care, this last profession is important to me because this where my healthcare career started. Hospice Care focuses more on terminally ill patients and tending to physical as well as spiritual needs.
In Chapter 2, it talks about Leadership in the healthcare setting.
In any business setting, there must me leaders as well as managers (Shanks, 2012). In my Nursing Home we have an excellent administrator who expresses every true thought and opinions he have about his residents and employees. Mr. Lake‘s leadership is a mixture of Inspirational, Diversity and Authentic. He has a big effect on our Nursing Home; anything that may goes wrong Mr. Lake is the first person to try to resolve the issue with a second thought. He also is a nature born trainer, if there is an employee who sounds unsure of a difficult scenario, he will question you until you get the answer right. This tactic develops employee’s work ethics and helps the employee to know what to do if this scenario should happened again. One of the bad traits he has as a leader is being silver tongued. Mr. Lake loves to express how he feels, especially if there is a silly situation that happens in our facility. He also is compassion of his residents; he often buys those gifts and loves to talk the family members as they walk into our facility. Mr. Lake leads the facility with a lot of respect and knowledge of every business aspect in the Healthcare profession. He is one of the best bosses I have ever worked
for. In a healthcare organization, good leadership is more than just important—it is absolutely critical to the organization’s success (Paul M. Schyve, 2009). The three leadership development goals I would like to reach are: strategy thinking, Priority setting, Conflict management. I choose Strategy thinking as a goal I would like to reach because in the Healthcare profession, you have to think fast and move fast. There are days where I would plan my whole days of things that needs to get done, but corporate may email me and need me to work on a project for billing purposes. I feel that I need to prioritize better as well, instead of trying to be superwoman and do everything. I have learned this early in my career that this profession can make or break you if you are not organize. My last goal I would like to reach is conflict management and resolution because there are a lot that goes on in a Skilled Nursing Home and there are certain situations I would like handle better. I personally feel as if I am a good leader, but I do need some guidance of better decision making when it comes to hasty decisions with family members and financial issues. To become a good leader, one has to recognize its own flaw and prefect it to lead.
Managers are to motivate their employees to build an organization achieve its goal. In Chapter 3, it talks about motivation and the effect it has in the Healthcare profession. The process of motivation is more complex than most people think. People have different needs, set different goals in order to satisfy needs and undertake various actions for attainment of the goals. It would be wrong to assume that there is one approach of motivation which could be used in any situation. Motivation is the process of initiation of an activity aimed at achieving specific goals. The biggest problem of health care management is joining what is needed with the behavior which is awarded. Although it is a big problem, it mainly remains unsolved. Work motivation includes different methods and processes of challenging, maintaining and stimulating such behavior directed to attainment of specific work goals. Motivation includes powers which affect persons or their inner side and they cause the person to behave in the certain, targeted manner. Enhanced motivation leads to improved performance, while increased job satisfaction leads to reduced turnover which means greater retention (Luoma, 2006).
What motivates me in my profession is my resident’s care. It is up to me to verify all insurance and managed care coverage for all residents. If a resident’s insurance lapsed or exhaust they can be lead to involuntary discharged. I want all of my residents to get a much care as possible, even if this is their last breathe. What also motivate me are my co-workers, being that I am Human Resources; I want everyone to feel as if they are being treated with respect and care. Even though my job is hard I try to be understanding and stern at the same time when dealing with HR issues. I give recognition when it is needed and I also counsel employees to build their job performance. What also motivates me is the opportunity to work in this field while I am gaining my degree. I have learned a lot in these past 9 months, more than one can imagine. What demotivates is the work load, but I have to swallow my pride and set a good example to my co-workers.
As in Chapter 4, Organization behavior is a broad area of management that studies how people act in organizations (Shanks S.
B., 2012). Organizational behavior management (OBM) focuses on what people do, analyzes why they do it, and then applies an evidence-based intervention strategy to improve what people do. The relevance of OBM to improving health care is obvious. While poorly designed systems contribute to most medical errors, OBM provides a practical approach for addressing a critical component of every imperfect health care system—behavior. Behavior is influenced by the system, in which it occurs, yet it can be treated as a unique contributor to many medical errors, and certain changes in behavior can prevent medical error. Cognition refers to the mental process involved in thinking, including attending to information, process information, and ordering information to create meaning that is the basis for acting, learning, and other human activities (Shanks S. B., 2012). One way that cognition thinking can help with communication is been able to read your co-workers actions when working with them. If you feel that your co-worker is having a bad day, you keep your conversation light and straight to the point and professional leaving your co-worker space to breathe. Also cognition thinking can boost the strength of teamwork by just simply working together. Being able to work who one another despise any doubts or frictions on one accord bonds the whole team
together.
In Section five of the assigned term paper, there are several aspects of health care profession you must be very knowledgeable of. One aspect is Strategic Planning, which is the process in which strategic and internal projects are outlined in order to move the organization toward achieving its long-term vision. A sound strategic planning process is the organization’s path to the future. The second aspect of the Health care profession is marketing. Marketing is important because you want to sell your organization as a brand. The concept of Marketing not only is the central role of satisfying the customer, but it also involves activities that centers on building a sustainable value driven systems for customers, physicians, and other organizations. Another important aspect in the healthcare profession is Information Technology. In addition to the embedded role of information technology (IT) in clinical and diagnostics equipment, IS are uniquely positioned to capture, store, process, and communicate timely information to decision makers for better coordination of healthcare at both the individual and population levels (Fichman, 2011). For example, data mining and decision support capabilities can identify potential adverse events for an individual patient while also contributing to the population’s health by providing insights into the causes of disease complications. Financial management is very important portion of the healthcare profession. Without Health Insurance, patients cannot receive proper care and Medical facilities cannot be paid for their services. As much as Medical Billers, Business Office Managers, and other financial consultants would like to assist with patient’s diagnosis, they must look at the business side of the profession and collect as much fees as possible. The financial personnel must be knowledgeable of the different types of insurances and how to bill in a timely manner to collect fees for services. There are times where Commercial insurances companies will try to dodge for paying for patient’s care, but the financial personnel must be aware and knowledgeable of all business laws as well. Cost and revenues are important, if your organization is not bringing in any money, there is no reason your facility should be open. The Account Payables personnel should be aware of all accounts in the organizations to be successful. There are a lot of contracts, reports, and meetings that should be generate to help keep the organization’s account organize and successful. The last aspect that is important in the health care profession is Human Resource Management. Proper management of human resources is critical in providing a high quality of health care. A refocus on human resources management in health care and more research are needed to develop new policies. Effective human resources management strategies are greatly needed to achieve better outcomes from and access to health care around the world (Kabene, 2006)
The top pick industry I picked in Section one of the assigned termed paper is Insurance/Managed Care. There are a lot personal developments I would like to reach such as: more knowledge of Insurance, deeper knowledge of Human Resources, being able to managed revenues, become more proficient with assigned projects, prioritized, advanced Management skills, and strategized information better. I want to become a Financial Consultant for my company where I travel to different facilities and train other Financial Counselors in their position. There is a lot of knowledge I am still learning in the Healthcare profession and in three to ten years I see me excelling it very well.
Healthcare organizations employ a wide array of clinical, administrative, and support professionals to deliver services to their patients (Shanks S. B., 2012). In Section six of the assigned term paper, there are six different professions I have never came across encounters with. These professions are: International Medical Graduate, Midlevel Practitioners, Respiratory Therapist, Exercise Scientist, Perfunionist, and Anesthesia technician. There are ways to learn more about these professional healthcare professions. One way is to research what these professions do for a living. Volunteer at the facilities these professions work is another way of becoming familiar of their job duties. Also another way to become knowledgeable of another profession is to plan an ice breaking meeting and give one-on-one interviews with the individual to get an idea of the pros and cons of their job. Since there are millions of healthcare positions in the United States, it important and respectful to understand each job duty to be knowledgeable of the different positions for patients referrals or personal use as well.

Works Cited
Fichman, R. G. (2011). The Role of Information Systems in Healthcare: Current Research and Future Trends (Vol. 22).
Kabene, S. M. (2006). The importance of human resources management in health care: a global context. Retrieved from http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/4/1/20: http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/4/1/20
Luoma, M. (2006, September). Increasing the Motivation of Health Care Workers. Retrieved from http://www.intrahealth.org/~intrahea/files/media/health-systems-and-hrh/techbrief_7.pdf.
Paul M. Schyve, M. (2009). Leadership in Healthcare Organization. Retrieved from http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/WP_leadership_standards.pdf.
Shanks, S. B. (2012). Intorduction to HEalthcare Management (Second ed.). Burlington: Ones & Barlett Learning.
Shanks, S. B. (2012). Introduction to Healthcare Management (Second ed.). Burlington, MA, United States: Jones & Barlett Learning.
Shanks, S. B. (2012). Introduction to Helathcare Management (Second ed.). Burlington, MA, United States: Jones & Barlett Learning.